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April 28, 2025 8 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lauren Cavanaugh was just three years old when the
abuse began.
She was confined to live in adark, lice-infested and
urine-stained closet and wasreferred to as a little secret
by her mother, barbara Atkinson,and her stepfather, kenneth
Atkinson.
The closet was four foot bynine foot, and Lauren would only
be allowed to come out of thecloset when the sadistic couple

(00:20):
wanted to abuse her.
Welcome to this episode ofHuman Wreckage.
In this episode, we cover thecase of Lauren Kavanaugh.
For six long years, laurenKavanaugh lived in a closet, not
metaphorically, literally adark, airless, filthy space
barely big enough for her small,fragile body.
She was only three years oldwhen the door first closed

(00:40):
behind her, and it would notopen again in any meaningful way
until she was nine.
By then the damage had beendone Her bones were brittle, her
body starved and her spiritnearly broken Nearly.
Lauren's story is not oneeasily told, nor is it one that
should ever have to be repeated,but it must be remembered, not

(01:00):
because we want to dwell indarkness, but because her
survival is a flicker of lightthat refuses to go out.
In that tiny prison where shewas denied food, love and even
the light of day, she found someway to keep breathing.
Some quiet, indestructible partof her refused to give up.
There is somethingdevastatingly brave about a
child who can live through thatkind of suffering and still

(01:21):
learn to smile, still laugh,still trust.
Lauren Kavanaugh would laterbecome known as the girl in the
closet, but that title barelyscratches the surface of who she
is.
She is not a symbol, not acautionary tale.
She is a person full of painand strength, terror and hope.
This is not just a story ofabuse.
It is a story of survival, ofwhat happens when evil goes

(01:44):
unchecked, yes, but also whathappens when courage meets care
and healing is given a chance togrow.
Lauren's journey is long andfar from simple, but if you're
willing to look beyond thecloset door, you'll find
something astonishing A girl wholived through hell and chose to
live anyway.
Let's get into it.

(02:05):
Lauren was denied food,physically beaten and sexually
abused by her mother andstepfather.
Over the course of five years.
She was systematically beatenwith a paddle as well as blunt
and sharp objects, and wasburned with cigarettes.
As she lay in the darkness, shecould hear her six siblings
laughing and playing outside.
When the other members of thefamily would go out of town on
trips, lauren would be locked inthe closet.
As Lauren sat in the darkcloset, she often glared at the

(02:31):
sliver of light coming inthrough the gap at the bottom of
the door.
In fact, if she stared at itlong enough, her mind would open
a portal to another place.
According to Lauren, this washer escape hatch, but according
to experts it was disassociation.
The abuse was uncovered whenKenneth told a neighbor, jeannie
Rivers, about Lauren whileBarbara was away from the home.
Jeannie went inside her ownhome and told her husband, Joe,

(02:52):
who called the police.
It just got to the point wherehe couldn't take it anymore.
It's unbelievable.
I had no idea it was going on,recollected Jeannie.
When officers arrived at thehome, lauren was eating
spaghetti.
She was eating as much as shecould.
Recollected Hutchins policeofficer Gary McClain.
While Lauren was eight yearsold, at this point she looked

(03:13):
like a toddler.
She weighed just 25 pounds, wasfilthy and had matted hair that
was infested with lice.
When I looked in her eyes, itlooked like she'd been in a
dungeon for days and days.
I thought my God, how cananybody do that, said Officer
McClain.
Lauren was taken to Children'sMedical Center of Dallas where
she was treated for malnutrition.
According to the medical staff.

(03:35):
Her skin was peeling off herback and her buttocks and her
teeth were broken and herstomach was bloated.
In fact, she was somalnourished that her organs
were shutting down and it wasestimated that she very likely
could not have survived muchlonger.
Her esophagus was clogged withfeces, carpet fibers and plastic
, and she did not know how tosit in a chair, write with a

(03:55):
pencil or recite her eggs.
She had not been potty trainedand did not recognize the sun or
basic objects.
Both Barbara and Kenneth werearrested and charged with injury
to a child.
The other children who wereliving in the home they ranged
in age between 22 months and 11years old were placed into
emergency foster care.
None of the children had beenabused, however.

(04:17):
The mobile home where they allhad lived was filled with dirty
clothes, trash and animal feces.
It would be revealed that thesiblings had been ordered to lie
about the existence of Lauren.
An investigation would uncoverthat CPS has investigated
allegations of abuse twicebefore in the home, but the
family had moved before theycould question them.
In fact, shortly after Lauren'sbirth, she had been fostered

(04:40):
but then placed back in hermother's care, despite the
concerns that Barbara could nottake care of Lauren properly.
Barbara and Kenneth weresentenced to life imprisonment
in 2002.
They're eligible for parole in2031.
After the ordeal, lauren wasadopted by Lauren Sabrina and
Bill Cavanaugh, who showered herwith love and affection.
As Lauren grew up, she spokeabout her abhorred upbringing.

(05:02):
She recalled how when hermother first put her in the
closet, she thought it waspunishment for crying.
Unbeknownst to her, it wouldbecome her permanent home.
She recollected how they put oncountry music to hide her
screams as they abused and rapedher.
I couldn't do anything in thedarkness.
I slept in there and had to useit for the bathroom.
The carpet was drenched inurine and I lay under a thin wet

(05:25):
blanket.
She said Children who areabused during their first three
years of life often faceirreversible cognitive damage.
Far too often these childrenare never going to be as
functional or as bright as theycould have been due to the fact
they were neglected and abusedduring their most formative
years.
Lauren's road back from thetrauma she endured was long and
bumpy.
She went through years ofpsychotherapy and doctor visits

(05:48):
and diagnoses.
Shortly after Lauren wasrescued, studies by the Centers
for Disease Control andPrevention suggested that she
faced a bleak future marred byantisocial behavior, crime, drug
and alcohol abuse, disease andearly death.
For a while, it looked asthough Lauren had truly overcome
her trauma and would lead aregular life.
Lauren went on to studypsychology at college and is a

(06:11):
staunch supporter of othervictims of sexual abuse.
However, in December of 2018,lauren, who was 25 years old at
the time, was arrested andcharged with sexually abusing a
minor.
Lauren had met her 14-year-oldvictim on Lauren's Facebook page
, where she had been offeringsupport for other victims of
abuse.
During an interview with police, lauren admitted she had a

(06:33):
sexual relationship with theunderage girl.
Greg Westfall, a criminaldefense attorney in Fort Worth,
said that the case should bedismissed due to Lauren's
traumatic upbringing.
Trauma affects the developingbrain of the child, so the brain
grows according to experiences,he said, when children have a
steady diet of harm and danger,we're going to anticipate a much

(06:54):
more dire outcome.
He suggested that counselingwas more appropriate as opposed
to a prison sentence.
Is she a predator?
Hell, no.
Is she someone who is going tobe able to better communicate
with a 14-year-old than an adult?
Hell, yes, he said.
In March of 2019, lauren wasindicted on three counts of
sexual assault of a child.

(07:14):
October 2021, the charges weredismissed and Kavanaugh was
released from jail after theprosecution and local experts
arranged treatment for her.
Thanks for joining me again.
Truly a sad case.
If you like what I do, pleaselike and subscribe.
Till next time, please takecare of yourselves.
Thank you you.
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